About 7 miles biked today
O Miles Done
About 1800 Miles to go
I will explain the title in a few paragraphs. For now I will describe my long day.
It started at about 5AM with my mind not letting me rest. Only anxieties coursed through my mind when I closed my eyes.
I took advantage of this to take care of last details of all sorts; writing email, printing directions, and working out immigration paperwork.
Dana and I recently celebrated three years together. However during that time we maintained separate households until I met her in Tucson on August 24 last year. This is important because I cannot work in Canada without a special visa called a work permit. Dana already has one and she has the privilege of sponsoring one for me as well as soon as we meet the "common-law partner" requirements. As of August 24th do with a year of co-habitation.
I spent the morning going through the paper work and as soon as Dana was awake we walked down to city hall to have a "Commissioner of Oaths"(think notary) witness our "partner"ship paperwork. With that done we packed up the paperwork and sent it to Canada Immigration. Hopefully in a few weeks we will have a new work permit in the mail.
After that Dana and I had scarcely a moment together before she had to go to a dentist appointment.
I always imagine days like this in some sort distorted reality where people say profound things and moments are enough to sustain someone through a war in a foreign country. Instead I find reality a lot more mundane; me packing and her going to the dentist.
Her appointment went a little long but she still got to the house in plenty of time to get me to the airport.
I am flying out of the small regional airport which has affordable flights to Vancouver. I breezed through check-in and we were left with a long wait until my boarding. Dana and I sat and walked together. I found my emotions building since my early wake up.
This is a trip I have been wanting to do for 5 years. However on the eve of the trip I find my mind filed with fear, no terror. Every part of my being wants to run away. The scret to my sucess on this and many of my other trips is telling everyone what you plan to do because I think sometimes all that holds me together is social pressure.
Finally Dana and I decided that spending the last hour waiting in an airport was too stressful for both of us. We kissed our goodbyes and had a final hug before we tried to move our thoughts to anything but what we most cared about.
It may sound cruel, heartless, or just weird but finally separating helped reduce my dread. Although I we miss each other it is better that fearing we will miss each other.
When I travel I enter an alternate mental reality where I zone out and let the time pass. The flights we mostly unremarkable minus a very good landing and a brief delay while a crew tried to figure why they had an extra person on board.
At the airport the luggage seemed to take forever though I
suspect I am grossly exaggerating. In about 45 minutes had my bike together and it seemed to have come through perfectly. After wandering around the airport for a while looking for water and change for a $2 coin I headed out to the buses.
I needed to catch three buses to where I am spending the night. The first two went perfectly. However the third bus was a pain. It cold and drizzling and after some waiting and asking I found out the bus route was re-routed. I got directions to the new stop which were wrong. At the new stop I got directions to near the right stop. I figured that out but then the advice on which bus I should take turned out to be in error. I sat an let the right bus cruise by and only found out when I tried the wrong bus and the driver corrected me. Finally after waiting some more I had spent over 45 minutes waiting a looking my transfer expired. I didn't have enough coins so I couldn't afford fair. However I had a good idea of where I was going from looking at maps in the morning. I put on my lights and helmet and headed out into the wet roads. It was much farther that I had anticipated. I originally had studied the maps to bike from the airport on a fairly direct route. However the bus system had me take a much longer route to get me to the connections I needed. As a result I pedaled for 30-45 minutes before I finally reached the hostel.
It is 1:30 AM local time but in my head it is 4:30 AM.
It started at about 5AM with my mind not letting me rest. Only anxieties coursed through my mind when I closed my eyes.
I took advantage of this to take care of last details of all sorts; writing email, printing directions, and working out immigration paperwork.
Dana and I recently celebrated three years together. However during that time we maintained separate households until I met her in Tucson on August 24 last year. This is important because I cannot work in Canada without a special visa called a work permit. Dana already has one and she has the privilege of sponsoring one for me as well as soon as we meet the "common-law partner" requirements. As of August 24th do with a year of co-habitation.
I spent the morning going through the paper work and as soon as Dana was awake we walked down to city hall to have a "Commissioner of Oaths"(think notary) witness our "partner"ship paperwork. With that done we packed up the paperwork and sent it to Canada Immigration. Hopefully in a few weeks we will have a new work permit in the mail.
After that Dana and I had scarcely a moment together before she had to go to a dentist appointment.
I always imagine days like this in some sort distorted reality where people say profound things and moments are enough to sustain someone through a war in a foreign country. Instead I find reality a lot more mundane; me packing and her going to the dentist.
Her appointment went a little long but she still got to the house in plenty of time to get me to the airport.
I am flying out of the small regional airport which has affordable flights to Vancouver. I breezed through check-in and we were left with a long wait until my boarding. Dana and I sat and walked together. I found my emotions building since my early wake up.
This is a trip I have been wanting to do for 5 years. However on the eve of the trip I find my mind filed with fear, no terror. Every part of my being wants to run away. The scret to my sucess on this and many of my other trips is telling everyone what you plan to do because I think sometimes all that holds me together is social pressure.
Finally Dana and I decided that spending the last hour waiting in an airport was too stressful for both of us. We kissed our goodbyes and had a final hug before we tried to move our thoughts to anything but what we most cared about.
It may sound cruel, heartless, or just weird but finally separating helped reduce my dread. Although I we miss each other it is better that fearing we will miss each other.
When I travel I enter an alternate mental reality where I zone out and let the time pass. The flights we mostly unremarkable minus a very good landing and a brief delay while a crew tried to figure why they had an extra person on board.
At the airport the luggage seemed to take forever though I
suspect I am grossly exaggerating. In about 45 minutes had my bike together and it seemed to have come through perfectly. After wandering around the airport for a while looking for water and change for a $2 coin I headed out to the buses.I needed to catch three buses to where I am spending the night. The first two went perfectly. However the third bus was a pain. It cold and drizzling and after some waiting and asking I found out the bus route was re-routed. I got directions to the new stop which were wrong. At the new stop I got directions to near the right stop. I figured that out but then the advice on which bus I should take turned out to be in error. I sat an let the right bus cruise by and only found out when I tried the wrong bus and the driver corrected me. Finally after waiting some more I had spent over 45 minutes waiting a looking my transfer expired. I didn't have enough coins so I couldn't afford fair. However I had a good idea of where I was going from looking at maps in the morning. I put on my lights and helmet and headed out into the wet roads. It was much farther that I had anticipated. I originally had studied the maps to bike from the airport on a fairly direct route. However the bus system had me take a much longer route to get me to the connections I needed. As a result I pedaled for 30-45 minutes before I finally reached the hostel.
It is 1:30 AM local time but in my head it is 4:30 AM.
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